In the field of computer printing systems, it is desirable to print user data onto a hard copy of a document, for example to complete blanks on a form document or to add images or handwriting to a user-created document. As used herein, a form or a form document refers to any document to which a user may desire to add user data, and specifically includes without limitation adhesive labels, letterhead and other stationery, user-created documents, and forms such as government forms. User data refers to any information or data that a user desires to add to a form document.
Various systems are known for printing completed forms. The simplest means of completing a form is to use a standard typewriter to manually fill in the blanks of the form. Such a manual system has obvious problems, including the inability to store the user data that is input into the form, the inability to obtain user data from an existing file or similar electronic source, the limitation of user data to alphanumeric keys available on the typewriter, and the generally slow process of completing the form.
Another means of completing forms is to type the user data into a word processor and to print the word processing program data directly onto the form by inserting the form into a manual feed paper tray of the printer. This system requires using a rough estimation of the location of the blanks or other spaces to be completed on the form, for example, by using tabs, spaces, and hard returns. The user might print the user data to a blank sheet of paper and then “eye-ball” the form spaces and the user data, for example by physically overlaying the blank user data and the form document and holding the two up to a light. When the user data is more or less correctly positioned, the user data is printed directly to the form document. This method also has obvious problems, such as problems with accurately aligning the user data with the form and problems spending a significant amount of user time trying to align the two documents.
Another possible means for completing forms would be to create an electronic document from the form document, either by manually entering the form document information or by scanning the form document into a computer system. The electronic form document could be made available in the same format as the user data, for example, in a word processing format. The user can then complete the form by entering the user data into the word processing document. Such a system would also have problems including requiring significant user time to create the electronic form document. Even if the form document is scanned, it still must be formatted into a word processing document. The user may want to ensure that data in existing form documents cannot be changed by the user data, which may require additional formatting time. Also, some forms such as adhesive mailing labels or government documents must be completed on the exact hard copy, rather than on a new sheet of paper. Some form documents may include color coding, symbols, graphics, or similar items that are difficult to scan without capturing a high resolution image and without printing a similarly high resolution image. Obtaining and storing a high resolution image requires significant memory and other resources. This is particularly a problem with portable computer systems, such as laptop or palm-sized computers. In many cases it is more desirable to print user data directly to a form document, rather than creating an entirely new electronic form document.
What is needed is a more efficient way of adding user data to a form document. In particular, what is needed is a more convenient means of printing user data from a computer system directly to a form document using a printer.